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Zucchini is blowing up all over the food blog world right now and I am absolutely loving it! I’ve seen everything from breads, to cookies, to cakes, to appetizers, and sooooo much more! What’s funny is when I was a kid I despised zucchini. I hated the texture and lack of flavor. Fortunately I grew out of that phase and am now obsessed. Not only do I love zucchini to eat zucchini, but I’m growing some in my garden right now. If you follow me on Instagram I’ve been sharing a few pictures of what I’ve been harvesting recently. Right now I’ve picked a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, a few zucchini, and more basil than I know what to do with. Last week I decided to put one of my fresh picked zucchini to good use and use it in my favorite turkey meatloaf recipe turning it into Turkey Vegetable Meatloaf.
The original recipe for this turkey meatloaf comes from one of my older, but still good cookbooks called, Eating For Life. I love this recipe for several reasons. First of all it uses turkey, which I prefer when it comes to meatloaf. I know, you are probably thinking how dry it must be, but oh how wrong you are! This meatloaf is in fact super moist. The moistness comes from the addition of oats and salsa, and in my new version, the shredded zucchini and carrot make it some of the most moist turkey meatloaf I’ve ever had.
Instead of using whole eggs for the binder in this meatloaf it uses only egg whites helping keep the cholesterol and fat to a minimum. We had our meatloaf with a delicious garden salad using the tomatoes from the garden, but it would be wonderful with some mashed potatoes and green beans too, classic diner style! If you are a ketchup lover like me, a couple squirts on top is the perfect topping for it.
This Turkey Vegetable Meatloaf is also perfect for leftovers the next day. We ended up having it again for dinner, but another delicious way to have it is on a sandwich. Seriously, if you’ve never made yourself a meatloaf sandwich you need to get on that, you are missing out! If you are looking for a delicious, moist, veggie packed, and healthy meatloaf to add to your arsenal of recipes make it this one! The flavor and moist texture will forever change your opinion of turkey meatloaf.
I made this last night and received a round of applause! So tasty. Almost the entire loaf got eaten up when I was hoping to freeze it for nomming throughout the week. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to make more! Shucks. As a texture girl, this is probably the best meatloaf I’ve ever eaten. I’m drooling a little just thinking about it…
Thanks so much for trying out the meatloaf! I’m happy to hear everyone liked it so much! :-)
This was, by far, the best Turkey Meatloaf I have ever made and served. It was easy and healthy and tasted so good!
Thank you for sharing!
You are so sweet Michelle! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe, it’s my favorite turkey meatloaf as well!
This sounded great until I got to the salsa – can I substitute something else or does the salsa make it moister? Thank you and look forward to a comment.
Hi Linda. I haven’t made this meatloaf without the salsa. The salsa does add quite a bit of moisture to the meatloaf. If you don’t like salsa you could try leaving it out although I don’t suspect it will be as moist. Another idea would be to use marinara sauce instead of salsa. I hope one of these alternatives works for you!